An al-Qaida group has claimed responsibility for attacks on two U.N. bases in Mali that left four people dead.
One peacekeeper was killed in rocket fire late Tuesday that seriously wounded three other peacekeepers and injured at least 10 civilian U.N. staff, according to a statement from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA.
The attack targeted a MINUSMA camp in the northern city of Gao. The mission did not specify the nationality of the peacekeeper killed, but China said Wednesday one of its peacekeepers had died in a terrorist attack in Gao.
A second attack Wednesday morning on the U.N. antimining operation (UNMAS) in a different neighborhood of Gao killed two Malian private security officers and an international expert.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the attacks Wednesday in an online statement.
On Sunday, five members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali were killed and another injured in an ambush attack. A similar ambush Friday killed five Malian soldiers and wounded four more when their vehicle hit a mine in the north and they were then shot at by unknown assailants.
After Wednesday's attack, the number of U.N. peacekeepers killed while on active service in Mali rose to at least 66, making it the most dangerous active deployment for the U.N. in the world.
